EREV AND SHABBAT

TIME AT AND WITH THE LANGS

Simone came in by train from Jerusalem during the week and made us a delicious tofu/sweet potato clear thin noodles plus salad lunch. Then fruit incl lychee nuts and dates stuffed with peanut butter and dipped in chocolate that Daniella left in the freezer.

Because it is too hot with high humidity to do much outside, we watched a wonderful Netflix film from Spain called Seventeen. Highly recommend. Then walked a mile home down Rothschild which is a wide boulevard and has a shady area down the middle with a path for bikes, etc. on one side and pedestrians on the other.. There are areas for picnics, games, exercise and on. We stopped some men of a certain age to ask what they were playing with small hard balls and they said it was a French game called Petanque like boule.

We kept quiet for a few hours and on to the beach for an Erev Shabbat picnic dinner. I don't do oceans but everyone else did. It's like a bathtub!

                                                             Picnic dinner at the beach

On Shabbat Philippe made us spring rolls for lunch with chicken, mango, avocado, shredded carrots cabbage and Simone made peanut sauce. 

absolutely delicious!

 Late in the afternoon Jennifer and Philippe had a pétanque date with friends, the French game we had seen men playing the day before. Jennifer paired with Moses and Herbie with the male friend David. Leslie decided to sit with me and be the rooting section. Moses had payed similar games years ago and he aced it with Jennifer. Herbie who had never played but who has always ben athletic did very well!

Hopefully you can see these videos!

That night we ate dinner at the restaurant, La Republica, next to our apartment. Herbie and I had the best pasta we had ever had. Mine was vegetarian and his had shell fish. Highly recommend to anyone in Tel Aviv!

First stop on a very busy day and evening was at Jennifer's 84 year old friend, 

Dorothy, who graduated college at 20. She is a genius who worked in computers at IBM in Princeton

and moved to Israel a year ago. She is divorced and her children are grown and live in the States. She has Friday night soup parties and shows movies on her patio wall. I think I would call her eccentric but so lovely. She adopted a dog when she came and Johnny keeps her company BUT is very naughty! She can't leave him alone or he eats through the metal gate and loses teeth and eats the wooden doors that belong to her rental apartment. She is starting to get him a trainer!

After lunch at Jennifer's, we went to the Ben Gurion House. A guard had us leave everything in his guard house except our wallets and phones. Then a guide met us inside and showed us around.

Ben Gurion left the house to the State of Israel rather than to his family. It is close to the beach and the property is worth millions.

                                          The room where he made his important decisions.

                His library of some 20,000 books about history and war in all different language

His bedroom

                                                                   His wife's bedroom

                                                    The entryway leading to sitting room

We returned to our pad after stopping for incredible popsicles

Shebazi Street that runs through Neve Zedek has numerous jewelers, designer clothing stores, the only remaining ceramic store in Tel Aviv after pandemic, food and home shops and restaurants and Kuchinate.

"Kuchinate  (crochet in Tigrinya) is a collective of African asylum seeking women living in 

Tel Aviv...The women design and create crochet products for the home, such as baskets, poufs, and rugs. They also host crochet lessons, meals and traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean coffee ceremonies."

For more information, google Kuchinate. It's fascinating.

 

African women are  taught to sew and make items for sale. I purchased a few gifts and items for myself. There were several women who would not allow their photos to be taken. They are so friendly and wrapped each gift separately with a card explaining who they are. I would have liked to buy more but...

                                                              Kuchinate from the outside

Sushi restaurant

Art gallery

                                                     Beautiful fruit and vegetable store

French cookies in every imaginable flavor!

We ate at a delicious vegan restaurant and Philippe and Simone met us for dinner. Then Jennifer, Herbie and I walked to the other end of the street to the Suzanne Dellal Dance Center and saw a very amateurish and so called Flamenco program. No outside artists allowed so tho their dancing was good, it was a Hebrew comedy act. Jennifer and I thought it was terrible!

To end on a nice note, Talia just arrived via train from Jerusalem and had lunch with Jennifer, then came to us. She will take us to gt our covid test for the plane and then meet Marc and Chana Tsipora at a Glatt Kosher restaurant at the Port. 

The rest tomorrow!